[In another world I am kneeling]
In another world I am kneeling
on the shore coughing up black
tar from the ridges of my throat
and in another world my body
is not a weapon nor an opening nor
something to be mapped and mounted,
a skinless summit, a colonization
that seeps into the rocky river bed
as the sun paints me in waves of sand
and sea foam. In another world my body
is not a gun, and I do not care what the reader
thinks of all my violence, the blood
beneath my fingernails that holds no DNA.
In other worlds my brothers are not
halved, nor am I, nor is their such vastness
between us, and the sunlight we have known
is not a cliche, and these words mean
something I can explain and know.
5 thoughts on "[In another world I am kneeling]"
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You leave me with so many questions about that other world. Another good one.
Powerful message!
Gorgeously layered piece. “a skinless summit, a colonization/that seeps into the rocky river bed” = shew!
Reading this as a Latina SA survivor, and I’m loving the attention to language. Particularly, I like the line break of “/and sea foam.” Favorite line: “In other worlds my brothers are not / halved” – Another solid line break and a lovely nod to humanhood without decentering yourself in the message. Beautiful work.
Like how phrase “in another world…” frames these powerful images.